Vodacom, South Africa’s largest mobile operator, was one of six companies recognised as a Best Performer company on the JSE’s Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index. Vodacom is the only ICT company to be recognised as a Best Performer on the SRI Index.

The mobile operator qualified as a Best Performer in the low environmental impact category. The index recognises those companies that regard society, governance and environment as an integral part of their corporate strategy, and ultimately share this information transparently in their reporting. Vodacom’s environmental efforts was recently in the news with their new solar panelled roof at their Cape Town head office.

“We are particularly proud of our achievement this year as the 2013 review for the first time only considered publicly available information, in the JSE’s effort to promote increased disclosure and transparency about sustainability performance,” says Maya Makanjee, Vodacom’s chief officer for corporate affairs. “We recognise that sustainability has long since evolved from being a corporate nice to have to a core competence that speaks directly to our bottom line. Integrating sustainability into the very core of our business is very much part of our overall strategy at Vodacom.”

Apart from its commitment to reducing its carbon emissions by 5% per annum, Vodacom Group recently also achieved inclusion in the Global 500 CDP report for the second time in two years. The report evaluates the carbon performance and disclosure of the top 500 companies globally.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Vodacom has been included on the SRI Index and its second as a Best Performer.